University of Washington
Professional Staff Payroll Title Series Descriptor
Human Resources Compensation Office ocpsp@uw.edu

Payroll Title

Research Consultant

Typical Responsibilities

Apply scientific knowledge gained through formal education at least at the Bachelor's level or equivalent/related experience to design, develop and maintain sophisticated database structures that support data collection and analysis research project(s). Develop data collection instruments, analyze data, and assist with preparation of results for reports, publications, and/or presentations.
May perform complex queries from large information sets to support data analysis.
May supervise research and support staff.

Supervisory Responsibility

Supervision of staff is not required, but is commonly found at higher grades in the series. Supervisors have the authority to hire staff, evaluate job performance, and take corrective action if performance is not acceptable.

Payroll titles in this series may be FLSA overtime exempt or overtime eligible.
FLSA overtime status is based on the position's duties and responsibilities, and whether or not the position's gross salary is at least $455 per week.

Professional Staff Exemption

Research:
Individuals having formal academic preparation at least at the Bachelor's level or demonstrated professional competence in a specific field of research, and having responsibility for or assisting in one or more of the following tasks: Identifying and defining research problems, Designing approaches or hypotheses to be tested and the methodology to be used, Designing specific phases of research projects, Analyzing results, Developing conclusions and hypotheses, Presenting research results in publishable form, and/or Obtaining research grants.

Sample Working Titles

N/A

Alternative Payroll Titles

If the primary focus is coordination of research activities for a significant research project or multiple smaller research projects, then the Research Coordinator payroll title may be more appropriate.
If the primary focus is performing research, then the Research Scientist/Engineer payroll title may be more appropriate.
If the primary focus is in developing and maintaining software for data analysis, and a previous understanding of a specific area of research is not required, a computing payroll title may be more appropriate.

Limitations

At least 50% of the position's time must be spent in research activities to meet the Research exemption.

Payroll title descriptors provide a general idea of the type of work performed by jobs assigned to payroll titles in a series. Descriptors do not and are not intended to represent all possible positions in the payroll title series. Payroll title and grade assignments for a professional staff position are based on its position-specific job description (see Professional Staff Position Description form).